Manifold-printing device.



E. Z. LEWIS.

MANIFOLD PRINTING DEVICE.

urmunron I'ILBD APR. 16. 1907.

2 SHEETS Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

-BHEET 1.

Witnesses lnvent ox ifs/M 2% By Eda/(2rd zcaferzeww Attorneys E. ZiLEWIS. MANIFOLD PBIN TING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 15. 1907.

Patented Aug. 24. 1909;

H m s m i m w A m% d 5 Witnesses Maw ANDREW. B. (mum co.. mom-museums.wAsmmwN. my C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD ZUVER LEWIS, 0F FRANKLIN, PENNSYLVANIA.

MAN IFOLD-PRIN'I ING- DE VICE To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ED'WARD ZUvER LEWIS, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Franklin, in the county of Venango and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inManifold-Printing Devices; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a manifold or duplicating machine for printingor impressing from the single impression of a stylus or printing deviceupon superposed sheets of paper an original copy and a pluality ofcarbon copies.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and moreparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Among the objects of my invention is to provide an exceedingly simpleand eflicient device for producing manifold copies in the mannerdescribed; to provide a device from which the manifold copies may bereadily withdrawn for convenient subsequent handling; to provide adevice in which the manifold copies may be produced on superposedregistered form sections disposed longitudinally on a continuous stripand separated thereon by transverse division lines, and to provide animproved means for holding the carbon or duplicating sheets or ribbonsinterleaved with the superposed form sections thus arranged. Otherobjects of the invention will appear from the following description.

In the drawings z-Figure 1 is a top plan view of a manifolding machinemade in accordance with my invention, showing a strip of paper lacedtherethrough to present a set of form sect-ions to receive the manifoldimpressions, said paper being broken away to illustrate more clearlythis arrangement. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partially broken away, ofthe machine. Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the supporting rollers forthe strip of paper and the manner in which the paper is folded uponitself, and illustrating also the manner of interleaving the carbons orduplicating sheets between the superposed form sections.

As shown in the drawings, A designates the base-board of the manifoldingmachine, B standards rising therefrom and formed to Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application filed April 15, 1907.

Patented Aug. 24., 1909.

Serial No. 368,204.

receive the extended ends of the core or mandrel of a roll of paper 0from which is unwound the strip on which are printed the form sectionsthat receive the manifold impressions. The paper strip upon which areprinted the forms that are to receive the manifold impressions andcontained in the roll C consists of a continuous strip, designated as Cand it is divided by transverse lines of division 0 into a plurality oflongitudinally disposed formed sections 0 0 best shown in Fig. 1. A.given or selected number of these formed sections constitute what willbe hereinafter termed a form set which are arranged at the printing orimpression. point in superposed order with duplicating devices, ascarbon sheets, interleaved between them. The number of form sections ina set depends upon the number of carbons or duplications desired; itbeing understood that at the location in the machine where the formsreceive the impression of a printing device or a stylus, the sections ofa given form will be disposed in superposed arrangement, the strip beingfolded upon itself a number of times required to bring the severalsections of a given form set one under the other, and that between saidform sections are inserted a plurality of carbon sheets or otherduplicating devices whereby the imprint on the uppermost form sectionwill be duplicated on the lower form sections through the medium of saidcarbon or duplicating devices. The form sections may of course be plainor may be specially ruled to receive the entries to be made thereon.

Referring now to the mechanism whereby the continuous strip bearing theseparate form sections are brought together in superposed relation toreceive the desired manifold impressions, the same is made as follows:

D D designate rollers which extend transversely across the base A andover which the strip of paper is trained in a back and forth manner toarrange the form sections printed on the strip one over the other. Thesaid rollers are mounted in standards D D rising from the base-plate A.A convenient manner of rotatively mounting said rollers in the standardsis to provide the ends of the rollers with suitable sockets whichreceive the pointed ends of bearing pins d (Z? which are suitablysecured in said standards, as by means of screw-threads. One set of saidscrews, the screws (Z as here shown, is made adjustable in the standardsin order to admit which'receives the thrust or pressure of theinscribing or printing device aswthe form sections are being filled inwith the data which they are designed to receive. As herein shown, fourrollers are provided arranged in two pairs, the rollers of each pair.being disposed one over the other. The rollers thus arranged providefor the lacing of the strip of paper C back and forth over the rollersin a manner to provide a superposition of three form sections, asclearly, indicated in Fig. 2, the strip being passed under the lowerrollers back over the lowermost roller remote from the roll C, thenceback over the upper roller D adjacent to said roller C and finallyforwardly from the latter roller over the upper roller remote from theroll C. If provisions are to be made for a greater number of superposedform sections and a greater number of rollers are, therefore, to beprovided, it will be desirable to arrange said rollers, not with the.axes of each set of rollers in the same vertical plane, as herein shown,but with said axes located in a plane inclined to the vertical in orderthat the form sections may be brought somewhat more closely together.

' Interleaved between the form sections are a plurality of reproducingdevices E E which may be carbon sheets, carbon ribbons, or the like. asherein shown, said reproducing devices consist of separate carbon sheetswhich are inserted transversely be tween the superposed form sectionsand eX tend at their ends beyond the side margins of said form sections.The carbon sheets are shown as being held in place by being pressed.fiat upon the base by means of clamping bars F F arranged one at eachside of said base. Said clamping bars areshown as attached by screws fto the foot flanges of the standards D of the rear rollers D, thescrewthreaded connections permitting the clamping bars to be swunghorizontally outwardly when arranging the carbon sheets in place.Preferably, said clamping bars are of spring or resilient nature,whereby the free ends,

when not restrained are thrown unwardl 7 l 1 -Fig. 1, one of saidclamping. bars 1s shown as thus confined or restrained in its clampingposition by its latchwhile the other clamping bar free, the latch beingturned laterally away therefrom.

Thestrip of paper made up into the form sections referred to is heldflat upon the baseboard in front and rear of the rollers D by means ofpresser bars G G which extend transversely across said strip and arefixed attheir ends tolugs G G rising from the from another set. Saidtearing bar is herein shown as located at the forward end of the base A-l:nit may obviously be otherwise arranged. and locatedtofacilitate thedetachment of the form sets one from the other after the same have beendrawn from the point at which they receive the impression.

In the use of the device a. strip in the form of the roll C isplaced onthe standards B and the free end of the stripis laced over and abouttherollers D D to provide the required number of superposed formsections, and the free end of the strip is carried from the last rollerover the base in advance of said roller and beneath the forward presserbar-Gr, The said sheet is then drawn forwardly to bring the formsections properly into place between herollers and into proper registerwith each other. Thereafter the carbon sheets E or other reproducingdevices are inserted between the superposed formisections and. areclamped in place by the clamping devices, or othersuitable meansprovided therefor. The forms are nowin position to receive written orprinted impressions. The carbon or other reproducing sheets E willusually be, arranged with their carbon faces downwardly. It will beobserved, therefore, that in filling in the form sections two of theprinted forms will appear on one face of the strip and the third formwillbe intermediate the latter forms and on the other face of the strip.After one set of forms has thus been filled in, the strip'is shifted bygrasping the freeend of the strip and pulling it endwise until theoriginal and carbon form sections of the set are drawn entirely awayfrom the supporting rollers D, duringwhich time another set of, formswill have been automatically brought to place in superposed orderbetween the rollers D. Itwillbe observed, by

reason of the space between adjacent form place another set of forms inposition to receive another impression thereon, will not disturb thecarbon sheets or other reproducing devices interleaved between the superposed form sections. Thus the carbon or other reproducing sheets willnot need to be removed during the shifting of the form strip.

It will be observed that the form and size of the machine is such thatprinting impressions may be readily made upon the topmost form sectionof the superposed forms by the use of a book typewriting machine, aswell as by a stylus. Attention is further called to the fact that allthe form sections of a given set, after they have been filled in anddetached from the strip, are in a form to be most advantageously handledor filed, all of the several sections of a set being in the form of asingle strip, in which form they are retained until detached one fromthe other in accordance with the method by which the sections areafterward handled and distributed, thus avoiding liability of thesections becoming separated, misplaced or lost, as is liable to occur inmanifold methods where the form sections are detached one from the otherat the time they are removed from the machine.

I claim as my invention 1. In a manifolding machine, a base provided atone end with means for supporting a continuous strip arranged in a roll,two sets of rollers supported on said base and separated by an upwardlyfacing platen and about which rollers the strip is interlaced in ato-and-fro fashion for supporting sections of said strip in superposedrelation over said platen, manifold sheets interleaved between thesuperposed sections of the strip, spring presser bars arranged to engagesaid strip in front and rear of said rollers and hold the sameyieldingly against said base, and standards rising from the base towhich said spring presser bars are attached, said standards being spacedapart to engage the margins of said strip.

2. In a manifolding device, a base provided at one end with means forsupporting a continuous strip arranged in a roll, two

sets of rollers mounted on said base and separated by an upwardly facingplaten, said rollers being arranged to support the strip interlaced in ato-and-fro fashion between the same to provide superposed layers orsections of said strip above the platen, manifolding sheets interleavedbetween the superposed layers or sections of said strip and extending attheir ends over the flat base, said base being extended at each sidebeyond the limits of the platen, and resilient clamping bars arranged ateach side of the platen to clamp the extended ends of the manifoldingsheets upon the fiat base, said clamping bars being hinged to the baseto swing horizontally toward and away from the platen and arranged toswing upwardly at their free ends when unrestrained.

3. In a manifolding device, a base provided at one end with means forsupporting a continuous strip arranged in a roll, two sets of rollersmounted on said base and separated by an upwardly facing platen, saidrollers being arranged to support the strip interlaced in a to-and-frofashion between the same to provide superposed layers or sections ofsaid strip above the platen, manifolding sheets interleaved between thesuperposed layers or sections of said strip and extending at their endsover the fiat base, said base being extended at each side beyond thelimits of the platen, resilient clamping bars arranged at each side ofthe platen to clamp the extended ends of the manifolding sheets upon theflat base, said clamping bars being hinged to the base to swinghorizontally toward and away from the platen and arranged to springupwardly at their free ends when unrestrained, and latches engaging thefree ends of the clamping bars for locking them flat on said extendedends of the manifolding sheets.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention I afiix mysignature in the presence of two witnesses, this 12th day of April A. D.1907.

EDWARD ZUVER LEWVIS.

WVitnesses:

TAYLOR E. BROWN,

A. M. BUNN.

